Ford has gone back to the future to celebrate 50 years of the Mustang, sending the 2015 convertible to the top of the Empire State building in New York.

The stunt, to mark half a century of continuous production of the pony car, is a recreation of the same stunt done in 1965, with the then-new Mustang.

Next month the Mustang will take pride of place on the 86th floor observation deck. But getting the 2015 Mustang convertible up there is no easier now than it was first time around.

No portable crane can reach the 86th floor observatory so just like the original stunt, the Mustang will have to be cut into pieces in order to fit in the freight elevator and reassembled at the top of the building.

"Like all good craftsmen, our team is measuring twice and cutting once to make sure we can get this Mustang up in the elevators," said Dave Pericak, Mustang chief engineer.

"Like the team that did this in 1965, the current crew visited the Empire State Building before starting and took careful measurements of its new elevators and doors before cutting up the car."

The high spire of the Empire State building means that flying the car in via helicopter isn't an option for Ford. Being longer and wider than the 1965 example the Ford team needed to plan carefully before cutting up the car.

Using computer modelling, the 2015 Mustang will be cut up into pieces and then loaded into custom-made racks and taken up the elevator.

Once on the 86th floor Ford says its mechanics will only have six hours to put the jigsaw back together, presumably because the observation deck is due to reopen.

And it won’t be long before they need to take it apart again, with the publicity stunt only lasting 54 hours from 8am on April 16.